TEHRAN It was a shame that the statues of Buddha in Afghanistan were destroyed. This sentence can be seen in the cinemas where the latest work of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, "Journey to Kandahar," is being screened. This leads the audience to seek the reason that the Buddhist statues were destroyed. But as the film goes on, the audience finds that it is Makhmalbaf himself who is being destroyed in this film, not Buddha.

In fact, ****Journey to Kandahar**** is another test for Makhmalbaf. Over the past few years, after making the film ****Hello, Cinema****, Makhmalbaf made other films such as ****Gabbeh****, ****Vase and Bread****, ****The Door****, ****Silence**** and ****Test of Democracy****, in which he always tried to create a different type of a cinema. This is a kind of protest cinema.

This time, in ****Journey to Kandahar****, Makhmalbaf selects a narrative method. The film begins with the voice of the heroine of the film and the audience see that she records everything on tape for her sister. This motivates the audience to follow the film to its end.

In this film, the director makes optimal use of symbols which are mostly unfamiliar to the average Iranian filmgoer. However they are very understandable to a Western audience. ****Journey to Kandahar**** seems to have been made with the tastes of Western audiences and foreign film festivals in mind, rather than the tastes of Iranian filmgoers.

****Journey to Kandahar**** is an odyssey. It is the story of a woman who, in order to reach her sister, is forced to bear heavy burdens and sufferings.

The objective of Nafas' journey to Kandahar is supposed to be preventing her sister from committing suicide. Nafas spares no effort in trying to prevent the soul of her sister from leaving the cage of her body. But in the end, she finds that her own soul and body are trapped in the cage which is made by her own countrymen.

Before Nafas succeeds in attaining her goal, she is forced to end her journey. But she does not change her mind about trying to find her sister.

Nafas records everything on her tape recorder from the beginning of her trip, in order to keep hope of finding her sister alive. Through recording new and beautiful things, Nafas tries to strengthen her sister's love of life.

Perhaps if Makhmalbaf focused strongly on the journey of the heroine of the film from the beginning, there would have been no need for the issues which were set forth on the sidelines of the film.

Although the journey of a woman is something which is emphasized in this film, certain scenes were exaggerated and this has deprived the film and limited it.

It is worth mentioning that the actors and actresses gave very remarkable performances in this film. From Nafas, who is the leading actress, to Khak, a holy Qoran reciter, all gave magnificent performances. This indicates the director's talent in selecting actors and actresses.

In general, regarding the critics' cool welcome to the film at the recent Cannes Film Festival and despite the hue and cry about the film in some of the domestic press, it seems that if Makhmalbaf continues producing this type of film, he will certainly lose his remaining status in the eyes of the organizers of Western film festivals and foreigners.

Makhmalbaf, who is a good director, unfortunately has not tread the most appropriate path in recent years. If this director leaves the world of politics and returns to the artistic world, we will once more witness the rebirth of the director who made ****Boycott****, ****Actor****, ****Nasereddin Shah, Cinema Actor****, and ****Cyclist****.